Fang Jue is really not surprised, because this is indeed a common thing.
The so-called empty pay is to falsely report the number of soldiers and horses. When the court distributes food and pay, it is based on the number of people and the corresponding military positions.
The more people there are, the more funding the Ministry of Household Affairs will allocate.
The more war horses there are, the more funding will be allocated.
There is still room for maneuver, such as the quantity and type of ordnance... It has to be replaced, right?
A soldier's annual salary is about thirty taels, plus the country's festive silver reward, he usually gets thirty-five to forty taels every year.
A set of soldiers' equipment can be worth more than twenty taels, and it does not count the excellent equipment such as war horses.
Even if these equipment do not need to be replaced frequently, the maintenance cost is not low. It must be replaced every year, which works out to nearly ten taels a year at least.
For a soldier, the court had to spend forty or fifty taels on him a year.
Calculated in this way, if you falsely report one hundred soldiers, you can get an extra four to five hundred taels a year. For court officials and second-rank officials, their annual salary is only more than five hundred taels.
But it is really "conscientious" to eat only a hundred people on free wages. How can I say that I can't eat your free wages from a thousand-household camp?
What's even more outrageous is that ten thousand people can eat three to four thousand people's wages, and the court didn't even know it. It wasn't until the war started that they realized that there were not enough soldiers and horses.
This kind of case has never happened in Daxia, and every time it is dealt with severely.
But it is difficult for the court to track down those who are eating hundreds of people's free wages, because they only need to report non-battle damage, and hundreds of people will die. How can you investigate?
"Is the Yu Lin Army eating empty pay?" Fang Jue said jokingly.
Cheng Jie said with a smile: "Young Master is really good at joking. How dare you do this under the emperor's feet in the capital of the capital. The Yushitai and the Xuanjian Division are keeping a close eye on you."
He didn't say that it was impossible for him, but that he didn't have the guts.
This is very real.
Fang Jue suddenly frowned and thought of something: "Do you think the commander of the Suzhou Battalion took too much free salary, which caused the Luoyang siege to go so smoothly because there were not many people available in the Suzhou Battalion?"
"This..." Cheng Jie didn't expect that the young master would actually want to go to Suzhou.
He quickly said: "I don't mean that!"
Everyone in Suzhou camp is dead. If you still say such sarcastic words, how will you behave if word spreads about it?
Fang Jue muttered: "We have to check..."
The Suzhou Battalion was defeated too quickly. It is said that the defenders of the first battalion could not lose so quickly.
"Young Master, we can't investigate!" Cheng Jie quickly advised.
Fang Jue also reacted: "Yes, it's hard to check..."
Because in Suzhou, the imperial court had already granted the title of loyalist, and the defenders or generals had all died in the battle. Checking this at this time could easily cause instability in the military morale.
What's more important is that the emperor has already expressed his stance. If someone makes a mistake at this time, wouldn't he slap the emperor again?
In addition, the most important thing is that all the Suzhou battalion died in the city. It would be too harsh to cause another turmoil.
Regardless of whether it is found out or not, it will be difficult to live as a human being.
"You are right to remind them, but we still need to take a closer look at Lizhou and Liangzhou." Fang Jue said seriously.
Cheng Jie: "Yes, Lizhou Camp and Liangzhou Camp are both said to have sent out 10,000 troops. In the future, rewards will be calculated based on the number of troops sent out."
If you eat empty wages at this time, not only will you get more rewards later, but more importantly, you will have an impact on the front line.
If you need someone, and suddenly find that there is no one available, it will be the end of the world.
"Go and remind them to restrain themselves. Don't play tricks at this time, otherwise there will be no mercy on the battlefield!" Fang Jue said.
"That's exactly what I meant by the last general. I think the Lizhou camp needs a small number of people, but General Wei Ran behaves himself."
After Cheng Jie left, Fang Juecai called Qin Mengchi.
She did not go with Bai Qing, but stayed with a few people to wait for orders.
"What are your orders, Young Master?" Qin Mengchi's tone was so soft that it made one's heart tremble.
Fang Jue said seriously: "Whose person does Sun Yi belong to in the Xuanjian Division's files?"
Qin Mengchi was a little surprised: "General Sun Yi of Lizhou?"
"Um."
After only briefly recalling it, Qin Mengchi replied: "He had an old relationship with King Ning, but since King Ning had a close relationship with King Wei, he has no contact with King Ning anymore. He is a measured person."
"Is there any dirty information about him?" Fang Jue asked.
Speaking of this, Qin Mengchi's eyes lit up.
She likes gossip, especially the gossip of these powerful people. If it is small, it is black history, but if it is big, it is a source of leverage.
"This General Sun really doesn't have many dirty things." Qin Mengchi was a little surprised.
Fang Jue nodded: "He has no record of being paid free money?"
Whether the court will deal with it or not is one thing, but the Xuanjian Division must know and have a record of the case!
When His Majesty wants to deal with someone, all these records will be activated, and all crimes will be punished simultaneously.
"No." Qin Mengchi shook his head.
"Huh?" Fang Jue was surprised. Is there anyone so honest in the army?
Why don't I believe it?
Qin Mengchi explained: "The way people make money is much more advanced than living on empty wages. There is no need to do such a thing."
"Oh?" Fang Jue asked with interest, "How does he make money?"
"Smuggling?" Qin Mengchi said calmly.
"Cough!" Fang Jue almost coughed up phlegm.
In the last sentence, Qin Mengchi also described Sun Yi as tall and tall, but Fang Jue didn't expect that he would turn around so quickly. He thought that Sun Yi had done nothing illegal.
Qin Mengchi took it for granted: "As a border defender, how many of them don't smuggle? As long as they don't smuggle arms, salt and iron, everyone will pretend they haven't seen it. The border is difficult, and this can be regarded as a benefit to these defenders."
She told Fang Jue that this was an open secret and no one would be too harsh.
"In that case, it's not a sin." Fang Jue shook his head, feeling a little helpless towards the laws of this era.
However, Fang Jue is not a Legalist, so he doesn’t think it is too unreasonable. When the water is clear, there will be no fish.
"So, this Sun Yi doesn't bother to live on free wages?" Fang Jue nodded.
Qin Mengchi: "Why, do you suspect that Sun Yi is taking free money?"
"Do you know the files of Sun Yi's people?" Fang Jue asked without any hope.
Qin Mengchi rolled his eyes: "Young Master, you are really good at making things difficult for others. How can I remember there are so many generals?"
"Forget it, call Sun Yi here. Remember to call him secretly. I have something to tell him." Fang Jue ordered.
"Sir, don't you have any other needs?" Qin Mengchi said with deep meaning.
Fang Jue knew that she was deliberately provoking and teasing, and would run away immediately if she really wanted to do anything.
"Go away," Fang Jue said angrily.
"Haha, I'm in a hurry." Qin Mengchi ran out of the tent with a smile that was nauseating.
Dian Yiyi said: "Master, this Miss Qin shouldn't be on the beauty list. She should be on the rogue list."
"You think so too?"
The two looked at each other and smiled jokingly.
Not long after, Sun Yi came in from outside the tent.
"Young Master is looking for me?" Sun Yi laughed, thinking he had something good to do.
Fang Jue nodded: "General Sun, the army has not set off yet, and the supplies need to be uniformly prepared. Go back and see if there is enough stuff sent to your Lizhou camp. If there is, give it to the military supplies."
Quartermasters existed in this era and were called quartermasters.
Hearing such a meaningless sentence, Sun Yi subconsciously said: "Lizhou has brought its own armaments. Only the military rations are based on the hair of the head. It is 10,000 for the Liangzhou camp?"
Seeing that he didn't understand immediately, Fang Jue smiled and said, "General Sun, let's go back and take a look."
"ah?"
Sun Yi was in charge of one side, so he was certainly not a fool. Seeing that the young master spoke so deliberately, he suddenly felt a little enlightened.
"Young Master is saying..."
Fang Jue nodded, but didn't say anything to save him some face.
Sun Yi's face turned red and he gritted his teeth and said, "What a shame, I'll go back and investigate right now, and I'll definitely give an explanation to the young master!"
After that, he rushed out of the camp, cursing all the way, and headed back to where Lizhou Camp was stationed.
"Master, are you deliberately trying to save face for him?" Dianyi saw through it.
Fang Jue chuckled: "After all, I am a guard. If I don't tell you, you can treat it as if I don't know. If I tell you a lot of things, it will be irreversible."
…
"What a fool, who did it!"
Sun Yi returned to the camp, called all his generals back, pointed at their noses and scolded them one by one:
"I just eat some on weekdays and I don't care. This time it's the Northern Expedition. Why don't you guys know how to restrain yourself when it's a major national issue?"
Few of the generals held their heads high, most of them lowered their heads, showing no confidence.
"Did I deduct your military pay or reduce your reward?"
"Young Master asked me to go, but I didn't even have the nerve to point it out. I'm trying to save face for you. How can I stand up in front of others?"
"Fortunately, we didn't let Wei Ran and Lin Bei know about it, otherwise I would have been embarrassed all over the northern border, and I would have been thrown into the capital!"
He didn't know that Cheng Jie had already noticed this and didn't say anything about it.
Sun Yi cursed a lot, and when he was angry enough, he shouted: "Anyone who has brought less people will come out to me!"
Immediately, half of the generals took a step forward.
Sun Yi bared his teeth: "I wonder why people noticed it so quickly. Isn't it a hundred and ten that the feelings are missing?"
If a thousand households have less than a hundred men, then those ten thousand households will lose the strength of a whole thousand households battalion. Isn't it ridiculous to start a war?
"Go to the Military Law Office to get twenty military sticks! Tell me how many people are missing, Madam, I have to go and report back to the young master. It's such a shame!"